Free Republic

It now seems possible, and some would say probable, that both front-runners for their party nominations will be wiped out in the early caucuses and primaries. It may well be that neither Hillary Clinton nor Rudy Giuliani win anything before the Florida primary on Jan. 29. Hillary is now behind in Iowa and her lead in New Hampshire has dwindled from an average of 19 percent in five polls in October to a 13 percent average in five polls in the first half of November to only 9 percent in four polls at the end of the month. In the...

Franken announced in February his candidacy as a Democratic contender for the U.S. senate seat now held by first-term Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, who many see as one of the most vulnerable national incumbents, The New York Times reports. Franken is in a competitive race for Coleman's seat with Mike Ciresi, a lawyer who has run for the job previously. Franken lobbies potential voters to support his claim the former comedian is a serious contender, arguing his political commentary as of late offers credibility. Franken and Ciresi are both impressive fundraisers, raising $1.89 million and $1.7 million, respectively, the Times...

New Orleans, LA (AHN) - A black teenager whose case fueled one of the biggest civil rights protests in the U.S. is expected to enter a guilty to a misdemeanor on Monday. If Mychal Bell, 17, enters a misdemeanor please, he will avoid a second trial for aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy for his role in attacking Justin Barker, a white student from Jena High School. Barker was unconscious, but survived the attack. Although he was treated in the emergency room for several hours, he managed to attend a school event on the same evening a year ago. Bell's first...

The Democratic National Committee plans to announce Wednesday night that it has canceled the final presidential debate in its fall series because of a potential writers strike at CBS News, a sponsor of the debate. [snip][snip]....Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was the first candidate to say she would not participate if CBS were the target of a strike, which could be seen as crossing a picket line. Other candidates followed suit. "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric was to be the moderator.

A Statist View of Rights In the statist's world, your rights are whatever the state says they are.  You can really see this concept at work in this breathtakingly bad Canadian decision reported by Eugene Volokh: Richard Warman, a lawyer who worked as an investigatory for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, often filed complaints against "hate speech" sites — complaints that were generally upheld under Canadian speech restrictions. Fromm, a defender of various anti-Semites and Holocaust denials, has been publicly condemning Warman for, among other things, being "an enemy of free speech." Warman sued, claiming that these condemnations are defamatory....

Yukos, once Russia's biggest oil company, has now ceased to exist. A simple entry on Russia's State Companies Register on Thursday marked the company's liquidation. The final move in the firm's history, it comes four years after its founder and former owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested on tax evasion charges. It's been one of the most controversial stories to have emerged from Vladimir Putin's Russia, and is seen by many as a key turning point in his rule.[snip]......" [snip].....The Yukos story was also deeply personal, with the treatment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which his lawyers said at times resembled a show-trial,...

After months of suspense, New Hampshire on Wednesday scheduled its presidential primary for Jan. 8 -- the state's earliest date ever -- in a move that promises one of the swiftest nominating fights in campaign history. With Iowa casting the first votes Jan. 3 and more than 20 states holding primaries or caucuses Feb. 5, the nominees for the White House could be decided in a one-month blitz of balloting -- and possibly in just a handful of days, if a candidate manages to win both Iowa and New Hampshire. In the meantime, the presidential hopefuls will campaign nonstop through...

JENA, La. - A judge ruled Wednesday that the public and the news media should have full access to all legal proceedings involving Mychal Bell, one of the teenage defendants in the racially-charged Jena 6 case in Louisiana, whose prosecution had been shrouded in secrecy on orders of the trial judge. Ruling in a lawsuit brought by the Chicago Tribune and joined by a coalition of major U.S. media companies, Rapides Parish District Judge Thomas Yeager ordered that Bell's upcoming criminal trial, as well as any pre-trial hearings, must be open to the press and the public. Yeager also ordered...

MANCHESTER, N.H.—Oprah Winfrey is poised to campaign for White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in Iowa and New Hampshire, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Obama made the disclosure while working a crowd at Central High School here, after delivering an education policy speech. A man, Ralph Hoagland, asked Obama—who was mingling and shaking hands-- if Oprah was going to stump for Obama in New Hampshire. “First she’s coming to Iowa,” Obama told Hoagland, who in 1963 was a co-founder of what is now the giant CVS pharmacy chain. “But we’ll talk about it. We’ll get her up here.” A...

T. Boone Pickens Responds to Letter From U.S. Senator John Kerry DALLAS, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a copy of a letter mailed by T. Boone Pickens in response to a letter from U.S. Senator John Kerry regarding the Senator's military record and ads in the 2004 presidential election by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. U.S. Senator John Kerry 304 Russell Building Third Floor Washington DC 20510 Dear Senator Kerry: So glad to hear from you regarding the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth political ad campaign, and an offer I made public at an American Spectator...

JENA La. A state district judge filed papers Thursday indicating that he would open to the public the upcoming juvenile trial of one of the six black teenagers charged with beating a white classmate. But District Judge J.P. Mauffray, in the court filing, also argued he was not required to open the juvenile proceedings and asked that a lawsuit, filed by several news media to do so, be dismissed. Mauffray is the presiding judge over Mychal Bell's case but disqualified himself from hearing the news media's request because he was named as a defendant in the litigation. The Associated Press...

Iran has installed 3,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium - enough to begin industrial-scale production of nuclear fuel and build a warhead within a year, the UN's nuclear watchdog reported last night. The report by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will intensify US and European pressure for tighter sanctions and increase speculation of a potential military conflict. The installation of 3,000 fully-functioning centrifuges at Iran's enrichment plant at Natanz is a "red line" drawn by the US across which Washington had said it would not let Iran pass. When spinning at full speed they are...

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have bought a man-made island in the shape of Ethiopia that is part of an ambitious luxury development off the coast of Dubai, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The Hollywood couple intend to use the reclaimed piece of land to showcase environmental issues and encourage people to live a greener life, the Emirates Today newspaper said. The couple's purchase is part of cluster of 300 islands, shaped like a world map, that is gradually surfacing in waters off the booming Gulf emirate. Representatives of the pair in the US and other reliable sources had confirmed the...

LEE COUNTY, Fla. - Fired for doing the right thing, that's what a Lee County man says happened to him after he turned in one of the county's most wanted fugitives. "I thought I did the right thing," said Kirk Zahradka. Newspaper photographs of Crimestoppers most wanted tipped Kirk Zahradka off. "Bunch of us seen the electricians name on it, picture on it," says Zahradka. The man in one of the pictures, Stanley Forcier, was his co-worker. "I called Crimestoppers reported him, got the case number," said Kirk Zahradka. That phone call did them both in. "He got arrested," said...

CINCINNATI — A lawyer for the man accused of raping a University of Cincinnati student says the encounter could have been consensual because the woman has a history of sleepwalking. Dexter Ford, 52, is charged with raping the 23-year-old woman early Thursday morning near Interstate 71 in Cincinnati. Ford's lawyer, Jeff Adams, said prosecutors told him the woman takes prescription medication and has a sleepwalking condition, a fact that will likely be the core part of Ford's defense. "It goes to consent," he said. "How is he to know she is sleepwalking, if it's a dream 'yes' or a real...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Intel Corp. plans to roll out its newest generation of processors Monday, flexing its manufacturing muscle with a sophisticated new process that crams up to 40 percent more transistors onto the company's chips. The world's largest semiconductor company expects to start shipping 16 new microprocessors -- which also boast inventive new materials to stanch electricity loss -- for use in servers and high-end gaming PCs . The most complex chips being launched Monday have 820 million transistors, compared with the 582 million transistors on the same chips built using the current standard technology. Intel's first chips,...

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - It's no go for Rosie. A possible deal for a one-hour MSNBC talk show hosted by Rosie O'Donnell has collapsed, the comedian said on her Web site late Wednesday. "We were close to a deal almost done," O'Donnell wrote on her blog (http://www.rosie.com). Negotiations continued late into Wednesday, but it was clear by evening that there would be no deal and no show. "My career as a pundit is over b4 it began," O'Donnell wrote......."

Wichita — Sedgwick County District Judge Clark V. Owens said he will rule within several weeks on whether to dismiss charges Attorney General Paul Morrison filed against Dr. George Tiller for allegedly violating Kansas’ restrictions on late-term abortions. After hearing arguments Friday, Owens said he would likely decide at the same time whether a panel of 12 jurors would hear the misdemeanor case, as Tiller requested. State law limits juries in misdemeanor trials to six members. Morrison filed 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller in June for allegedly failing to have a second, independent physician sign off before he performed abortions...

He's a singer who has made some odd career moves in his time, from changing his name to an unpronounceable love symbol to scrawling "slave" on his cheek in protest at his record company. But industry experts yesterday warned that Prince's latest decision might be the most controversial of all. He has threatened to sue thousands of his biggest fans for breach of copyright, provoking an angry backlash and claims of censorship. His lawyers have forced his three biggest internet fansites to remove all photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to the artist's likeness. A legal letter asks...

AUSTIN, Texas — There was a time when it paid to be friends with Mauricio Celis, who rustled up clients for Texas' swaggering trial lawyers and contributed generously to Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton. But now, Celis' friends are running for cover. The luxury-loving Corpus Christi businessman is under investigation on suspicion of impersonating a lawyer and a sheriff's deputy. Celis, 36, has a controlling interest in the CGT Law Group of Corpus Christi, a firm that not only has lawyers on staff but provides a variety of auxiliary services: Need a plane to get to a city to sign...